Air pollution has emerged as the deadliest form of pollution and is costing the global economy hundreds of billions of dollars and hampering economic development, a new study by the World Bank and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has found.
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Air pollution is the fourth-leading cause of premature deaths worldwide and the problem only continues to worsen, but governments have been loathe to make the dramatic changes necessary to curb polluting industries in favor of cleaner alternatives. That number rises to more than $5 trillion when accounting for so-called “welfare costs” -what people are willing to pay for the reduction or prevention of pollution-induced death.
The study was conducted to strengthen the case for action and facilitate decision making in the context of scarce resources. “The poor are more likely to live in polluted areas and are less able to access healthcare.”. “The health risk posed by air pollution is the greatest in developing countries”, said the authors. It said that 90 percent of the population in these countries was exposed to risky levels of ambient air pollution in 2013.
James Thornton, CEO of environmental lawyers ClientEarth said: “This report from the World Bank shows that air pollution is not only a health crisis but is also hugely damaging to the global economy”.
The study drew a link between economic development and air pollution.
The report warned that the danger of air pollution is more pronounced in low and middle-income countries. In the United Kingdom, we are being forced to take the government back to court next month, despite a Supreme Court ruling against them, just to get ministers to comply with legal air pollution limits set to protect people’s health.
However, the report also noted that the bulk of air pollution-related deaths are amongst older people and children, arguing that an analysis of “welfare losses” covering all air pollution-related deaths is undertaken the economic cost soars to $5tr worldwide in 2013. It found that annual labour income losses cost the equivalent of nearly 1 per cent of GDP in South Asia, 0.25 per cent of GDP in East Asia and the Pacific, and 0.61 per cent of GDP in Saharan Africa, where air pollution impairs the earning potential of younger populations. In East Asia and the Pacific, where the population is ageing, labor income losses represent 0.25 percent of GDP, while in Sub-Saharan Africa, where air pollution impairs the earning potential of younger populations, annual labor income losses represent the equivalent of 0.61 percent of GDP.
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In 2013, which is the most recent data available, China lost almost 10 percent of its GDP, India lost 7.69 percent, while Sri Lanka and Cambodia each lost roughly 8 percent, as a result of pollution-related deaths.
